Even When the World Comes Down (Sequel to Always & Forever)

Chapter 19 - Joel

It was hard for me to get the feeling of her body against mine out of my head. After all these years, her body still fit so well against mine. I needed to stop thinking about this. I had promised Tess to get Ellie to more Fireflies. Tess. Shit. How as I gonna explain Tess to Beth? Hopefully I'd have enough time to get my head straight before I told her about Tess.

"You weren't kidding about him," Ellie said bringing me back to the now.

"He's one of a kind," I said.

"That he is," Beth retorted.

"So what kind of trouble are you in? Where the hell is Tess?" Bill asked.

I froze in place. Dammit, Bill. I looked over at Beth and couldn't read the look on her face.

"It's okay," she whispered patting me on the shoulder and moving past me.

Shit. I hope she'd give me the chance to explain if we ever ended up alone again.

"Oh shit...that's right. Uh, I forgot about the two of you...know what, never mind," Bill said.

A little late for that, Bill.

"It's a job. A simple drop off," I said getting back to the question he'd asked before he'd made this even more awkward than it already was.

"What are you delivering?" Bill asked.

I chuckled. "That little brat?" he assumed.

"Haha. Fuck you too," Ellie retorted.

Beth stopped and looked at me.

"Dropping her off? Where are you taking her exactly?" Beth asked in a harsh whisper.

"Not now, Beth. Please," I said matching her tone minus the harshness.

"Y'know, I hope you know what you're doing," Bill said a little further ahead.

"Are you kidding me with this guy?" Ellie asked.

"Like I said, sweetie. An acquired taste," Beth said.

"So where are we going, Bill?" I asked.

"My other safe-house. It's more of an armory," Bill said.

"Well, I haven't been there in forever," Beth said.

"You haven't been around in forever," Bill retorted.

"Wait, I thought we were gonna fix up a car?" Ellie asked.

"We? You know how to fix..." Bill started.

"Come on, Bill. Don't be a dick," Beth interjected before he could finish his sentence.

I was glad she did cause I really didn't want to know what the end of his sentence was.

"It's like I said, what I need is on the other side of town. Now that side of town is filled with infected. Which is why we're gonna need more guns," Bill continued.

"Well aren't you glad we came along then?" Beth asked.

Bill scoffed.

"Yeah right," he mumbled.

We all kept on following him until we hit some stairs. As we go closer to the first floor, there was some banging that was heard.

"There's one inside," I said.

"Oh. Yeah. Don't worry about that one. I've been meaning to take care of it," Bill said nonchalantly.

He opened up a door and went straight to a window that had been barricaded. A stalker had managed to get in half way. He pulled the hair still left on its head and sliced it neck up.